Monday, March 23, 2015

Instead of brands that are based in brick-and-mortar locations finally have a reason to celebrate about ecommerce, Google's Local Inventory Ads. The ads strive to direct web traffic online consumers to local stores carrying the products they are searching for. This is a huge move in thesearch engine optimizationworld.

The tool was launched last year and so it's still somewhat new to brands but it seems to be helping them already. One brand that is experiencing benefit from thisinternet marketingtool is Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores.

What happens is really neat for brands; so when you search for something, for example, "Washing Machines", Google will have ads on the side or top of page, like Adwords, with ads for the product you're searching for. When you click on "Shop on Google" you are directed to a page with listings for all of the products that stores have paid to list under this section, pertaining to your search. You can see which stores are carrying your product, what their price is, and how far they are located from your location (determined by IP address).So now stores have a bit of leverage on online stores advertising on Google. While the purchasing process of online is easier, it requires no driving or even getting dressed, the ability to immediately own a product and not paying for shipping will win every time.

Sears's spinoff company has been running these ads that utilize location and tell consumers where to find the product nearby for some time. In fact, they have seen 122 percent more visits to all of their 1,240 locations because of this service. Sears has reported a 16 percent increase on inventory ads versus their other online advertisements.

This tool works brilliantly with mobile advertisingas well. Shoppers can check out where's the best place to purchase something while on the move to purchase it. It is the best search ad tool so far.

Monday, March 16, 2015

At SXSW Interactive, food trucks have become a bit of a staple for goers to enjoy. Food trucks have seen a resurgence in popularity across U.S. cities, especially here in Chicago as they are finally legal. At the SXSW festival, food trucks line the streets and sell their innovative recipes and twists on traditional food items, fitting with the innovative theme of the tech, music, and films at SXSW.

Every food truck promotes via social media marketingat SXSW; all of them using their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram profiles to generate buzz. Instagram creates a great platform for food trucks to promote themselves since it is visual and mobile based. With the support of hashtags, attendees can quickly view the different foods being offered by tapping on the different hashtags.
As aChicago SEO firmthat has visited the SXSW festival in prior years, we have spoken withmany attendees who tend to skip the food trucks since their lines can grow to hours long. However, the lines this year have grown even more due to the stepped up presence on Instagram and more people flocking to SXSW.

Using Instagram allows the food trucks and restaurants in the area to connect with customers, even when they are not near their locations. Yes, that is true of all digital marketing other times as well, but it has a profound effect at SXSW since attendees can quickly move to their locations at any time.

However, the social bug has not bitten every SXSW attendee when it comes to finding a cure for their growling tummies, some still use the old-fashioned nose, eyes, and tastebuds. They smell, look for visual confirmation of good scent, and taste to confirm it was worth the purchase.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Social media giant, Twitter, plans on doing several things at the famous SXSWInteractive fest. One of their main objectives is to promote the site's video capabilities, which allows users to share easier than ever before, better advertisingopportunities, and an autoplay option (possibly).

The past year, video has been on Twitter's mind and has consumed a lot of their efforts. They worked hard on launching their native video service, which impacted both social media marketingandsearch engine optimization efforts for brands, as well as keeping up with other social media companies. One of the events that sparked Twitter's efforts was Facebook's purchase of LiveRail in 2014, since Facebook wanted to improve their video service.

Until this year, Twitter's approach to video has been a little confusing, allowing multiple services to play video for Twitter. Now, it doesn't matter where the video was produced nor on which device, it will all be seamless and uniform. Now, with Twitter's native video platform, users can shoot and upload video directly to Twitter. Also, in efforts to create a better video experience digital marketingteams and general users, Twitter purchased SnappyTV; this allows lets media companies broadcast content quickly and sell ads with that.

Twitter is still working out an autoplay feature, allowing videos to begin playing as users scroll through their feeds.

Monday, March 2, 2015

One of the most challenging parts of creating a successful campaign for digital marketingis generating consumer engagement. When your consumers don't give a hoot, they don't engage.

So how does a brand generate engagement from its consumers with social media marketing? Answer: by making consumer feedback part of the process and be heard!

When you make the consumer part of the process, granted, it has to be for something fun/worthwhile, then you will see their interest and willingness to engage will increase.

Let's look at one fantastic example of "making the consumer part of the process" from Lay's, the beloved brand from Frito-Lay. The past few years, Lay's has run the digital marketing campaign called, "Do Us a Flavor"; the highly-orchestrated creativeinternet marketingcampaign has allowed consumers to submit their ideas for a great (or, rather terrible) potato chip flavor. The four best ideas (determined by user votes) are turned into flavors. From there, consumers purchase the chips and give their feedback; the winning flavor from that group is then turned into a real flavor and available for mass purchase for one year.

How wonderful is that? Not only is the consumer a vital part of the campaign, and more than just a purchaser, but the point of the campaign is worthwhile and fun! It matters that your campaign is worthwhile, otherwise, you still won't get any engagement. It is a delicate balance.

Does your business desire better engagement with its audience? Then email Integraphix - a Chicago SEO company - about how to create a campaign that makes consumers want to engage and can generate worthwhile ROI!